ORAL PRESENTER TITLE: Mapping natural flood management opportunities in the Marengo River Watershed ABSTRACT: The Marengo River watershed (MRW) in the Lake Superior basin has experienced multiple devastating flood disasters in recent years, placing a significant burden on under-resourced rural communities in the region. The Wisconsin Wetlands Association collaborated with the Association of State Floodplain Managers to help local decision-makers in the MRW to identify where there are high-impact opportunities to restore degraded wetland and floodplain hydrology and mitigate risks to vulnerable local infrastructure. I will cover: 1) the development, outputs, and end uses of a hydrologic conditions screening framework, which maps which catchments in the watershed have a higher opportunity to increase wetland and floodplain storage and connectivity upstream of vulnerable structures, with an emphasis on headwater-dominant landscapes; 2) the importance of inclusive community engagement in conservation work and how we incorporated community values, needs, and barriers into this work; 3) lessons learned and recommendations regarding replicating this work in other watersheds. The ultimate goal of this work is to provide the data and technical support needed for rural communities to utilize natural flood management to make their watersheds more climate resilient. BIO: Stephanie Rockwood is a geospatial analyst at Wisconsin Wetlands Association, joining the staff in 2022. Her work focuses on linking geospatial information and local knowledge to help communities make informed decisions for natural flood management. She has a bachelor’s degree in ecology from Northern Michigan University and a master’s degree in environmental conservation from UW-Madison.